Cat Milk Saves Baby Pangolin In Prague Zoo

The Prague Zoo has announced the arrival of a brand new Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), the first birth of the critically endangered species in captivity in Europe. The newborn had a rough start but is doing well, according to the zoo.

The baby female – nicknamed “Little Cone” because she looks like a tiny spruce cone – was dangerously underweight at birth at 135 grams (4.76 ounces), and was actually losing what little weight she had for the first few days. The problem: mother pangolin was not producing enough milk.

After consulting with experts in Taiwan (which had given Prague the breeding pair of pangolins last year), the zoo vets started feeding Little Cone with milk from a cat, while the mother, named Run Hou Tang, was stimulated to produce more of her own.

“Step by step it became clear that the stimulation helped Tang, and all started going as it should,” wrote director Miroslav Bobek on the zoo’s website. “From one feeding to the next the baby gained weight and was visibly growing.”

These pangolins are here due to a dicey diplomatic relationship with China. Although the Czech Republic recognizes the one-China principle (confirming that Taiwan is part of greater China), Prague revoked its sister-city status with Beijing in favor of Taipei in 2020. Ouch. Shortly after that usurpation, the Taipei Zoo sent Tang and her partner Guo Bao to the Prague Zoo.

Welcome to a complicated world, Little Cone.

Photo credit: Miroslav Bobek / Prague Zoo